Anxiety affects a sufferer physically as well as mentally. Some physical symptoms, especially during a panic attack, include shortness of breath, shaking, nausea, headache, rapid heartbeat, dizzy spells, and more.

Surpassing even depression, anxiety is the most common form of mental illness in the United States. It’s estimated that approximately 10 percent of teenagers and 40 percent of adults suffer from an anxiety disorder of some kind.

Despite its high level of treatability through therapy and/or medication, 2/3 of adults with anxiety do not receive treatment. Teenagers with anxiety receive treatment even less frequently – only 1 in 5 teen sufferers do.

Biological factors contributing to anxiety are still being studied, but brain scans of people suffering with various anxiety disorders have often shown evidence of chemical imbalances

Statistically, women are more commonly afflicted by anxiety disorders than men.

Rather than being simple fears, phobias are seriously debilitating, intense feelings of panic that cause sufferers to go to great lengths to avoid encountering the subject of their phobia, such as heights or tightly enclosed spaces.

War veterans are not the only ones who suffer from PTSD. Others who commonly experience post-traumatic anxiety, including flashbacks, are survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, accidents, or natural disasters.

Closely related to OCD are various “manias,” or compulsions, which include, among others, pyromania, and trichotillomania. These are, respectively, the uncontrollable, continuous urges to start fires, and pull out one’s hair, eyebrows, or eyelashes.

Those who suffer from anxiety are prone to suffering from depression simultaneously.

Although anxiety disorders can be triggered by extended environmental stress or traumatic life events, anyone can be afflicted with this form of mental illness.